Yak Ballz
| Yak Ballz | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Yashar Zadeh |
| Born | 13 April 1982 |
| Origin | Flushing, Queens, New York, United States |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | Rapper |
| Years active | 1998 - present |
| Labels | Fondle'em Records Eastern Conference Records Definitive Jux Records FloSpot Records |
| Associated acts |
The Weathermen Cardboard City |
| Website | Yak Ballz Myspace |
Yak Ballz, born Yashar Zadeh is an American independent hip hop artist, who was brought up in Flushing, Queens, New York. He is one of the original members of The Weathermen. He is also a member of Cardboard City.
In his youth, Yak spent a lot of his time using his imagination and creativity to draw and paint. He became enamored with the rebel art of graffiti. He was inspired by Cost, Revs, Uend, and his TCK (True City Killers) brethren. Yak turned to writing as an outlet for expression and a form of therapy due to his mother being overprotective about their neighborhood in Queens at the time. Thanks to his best friend’s older brother, Vaz (of 89.9-FM WKCR’s legendary “Night Train” hip-hop show), while in high school Yak landed a gig interning at Bobbito Garcia’s Footwork store in downtown Manhattan where he saw a myriad of flyers promoting Hip Hop shows all over the city. At the age of 16 he entered the Braggin’ Rites MC battle; he took second place and was the youngest person in the competition. Yak would go on to achieve first runner-up honors two more times after that, but more importantly, the aspiring MC grabbed the attention of several interested people in attendance, including Armando “Mondee” Torres and Brett Scott, who approached Vaz about getting Yak to appear on their new mixtape. At the urging of Vaz, the MC agreed to work with Mondee. This would lead to a lasting music relationship. He is of Persian heritage.
Bobbito Garcia, world-renowned radio personality known for breaking records and introducing new talent in New York City during the Indie Hip Hop boom in the mid to late 90’s, liked Yak’s demo, Flossin’, so much that he put it in rotation on his CM Famalam show on 89.9-FM WKCR in New York. He later invited Yak to appear on the show in 1998. After a few impressive appearances on WKCR, and Flossin’ gaining regular rotation, Bobbito approached Yak about some new original music. Yak's lyrics caught the attention of Cage, who was impressed enough to reach out to him; making him an original member of The Weathermen.
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